SPORTS TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2016 HERMISTON Prep Wrestling Dawgs win Oregon Classic 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Hermiston fends off Tigers Rambo scores 23, Bulldogs beat 4A power La Grande Four go undefeated for Hermiston By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian East Oregonian REDMOND — The Hermiston Bull- dogs won the fi rst major state wrestling title of the season over the weekend at the Oregon Classic, book-ending its tour with wins over Mountain View for the 5A championship. The Bulldogs’ perfect run through the bracket at Deschutes County Fairground came with four spotless individual performances. Seniors C.J. Hendon (152 pounds) and Valen Wyse (160) both were 7-0, as was junior Kenny Bevan (220), and junior Adrian Tuia (138) went 6-0. Pendleton placed eighth for 5A teams while Mac-Hi (4A), Riverside and Irrigon (3A) and Heppner/Ione (2A) also competed. See OREGON CLASSIC/6B The Hermiston Bulldogs boys basketball team knew they were in for a battle on Saturday night. They welcomed the La Grande Tigers into the Dawg House, the No. 3 ranked team in Class 4A for its non-league fi nale and it turned out to be just as adver- tised. Both teams passed around the momentum Boys Hoops throughout the game which stayed tight until the end, when La Grande Hermiston was able to pull out the 62-54 win over La Grande. “Both teams played hard but Hermiston we got stops when we needed to and we executed well when it was tight,” Hermiston coach Casey Arstein said. “La Grande’s a great team and there’s a reason they were unbeaten coming in here, they’ll dominate their league and I’m pretty sure they’ll get down to the 4A state tournament, but this is what we need. We want these types of hard games and hopefully that gets us ready for league.” Hermiston (10-3) benefi ted from another strong performance by senior Xavier Rambo, who netted a game-high 23 points including eight points in the fourth quarter to help the Bull- dogs seal the victory. Rambo’s quickness on the court and the ability to evade defenders and drive to the basket consistently has become a real weapon for Hermiston. “It’s nice having an athlete like See HHS BOYS/6B 54 62 College Track & Field Robinson vaults to heptathlon victory Former Buckaroo wins for Portland State PSU Athletics NAMPA, Idaho — Sweet redemption. A year after no-heighting in the pole vault to fall out of the heptathlon at the Ed Jacoby Invita- tional, junior Donté Robinson completed a dominant run through the seven-discipline event Saturday, fi nishing with 4,900 points to win by 566. Robinson, who’s heptathlon attempt at last year’s Ed Jacoby Invite was his only Robinson previous experience with a multi-event in his Portland State career, entered the day with a 280-point lead after winning all four events Friday with four straight personal bests. See ROBINSON/6B Staff photo by Kathy Aney Xavier Rambo, of Hermiston, goes up for a shot during Saturday’s game against La Grande. Lady Bulldogs extend winning streak to four games Shaelyn Gil- bert (22), of Hermiston, looks for a teammate during Saturday’s game against West Valley in Hermis- ton. Hermiston fi nishes out non-league slate with win over West Valley By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian NBA Wizards burry Blazers with 3s WASHINGTON — Bradley Beal scored 25 points and John Wall had 24 as the Washington Wizards took a page from the Portland Trail Blazers’ playbook by hitting 13 3-pointers in a comfortable 120-101 victory on Monday afternoon. The Wizards, who rely less on the 3-pointer than almost any NBA team, Hermiston coach Juan Rodriguez had two reasons to smile on Saturday night. The fi rst reason being that his Bulldogs Girls Hoops team was actually able to get on the fl oor in game action, after two games last week West Valley were called off due to inclement weather. The second reason was that his Bulldogs team pulled out a 61-51 win Hermiston over West Valley out of Yakima, Washington in its fi nal non-league tuneup before Columbia River Conference play starts up next weekend. The victory marked Hermiston’s fourth straight win on the season as See BLAZERS/2B See HHS GIRLS/6B Washington hits 13 shots from behind the arc By STEPHEN WHYNO Associated Press Staff photo by Kathy Aney 51 61 Sports shorts Beard helps Owls upset EOU men KLAMATH FALLS — Oregon Tech men’s basketball was named the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s team of the week coming off a 98-81 upset win over No. 5 Eastern Oregon on Sunday. Pendleton product Bryan Beard aided the effort with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the fi eld and pulled in a pair of rebounds while also registering a blocked shot and a steal. Oregon Tech (15-5, 8-2 CCC), took control with a 14-3 run to Beard start the second half and led by as many as 22 points. Mitchell Fink led OIT with 27 points, and Eastern (15-4, 8-2) was paced by Blake O’Donnell with 16 points. The win pulled Oregon Tech into a tie with Eastern Oregon for fi rst place in the CCC. “While we cannot comment on the health of our individual students, we have implemented modifi cations as we transition back into full training to prevent further occurrences.“ — University of Oregon Statement released in response and Oregonian report that three foot- ball players were hospitalized after grueling workouts last week. ESPN confi rmed offensive lineman Doug Brenner, tight end Cam McCormick and offensive lineman Sam Poutasi are patients at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfi eld. No. 11 Oregon easily handles Oregon State to win Civil War EUGENE (AP) — Payton Pritchard and Oregon made the 40-mile bus ride a wasted trip for Oregon State in the latest leg of college basketball’s most-played rivalry. As it turned out, the 347th Civil War wasn’t much more than a neighborhood skirmish. Pritchard had 17 points and Oregon scored the game’s fi rst 21 points in an 85-43 victory over Oregon State on Saturday night. “Defense,” Pritchard said of the fast start. “When we start off going hard on defense, locking up, that’s going to happen for us.” Dylan Ennis added 16 points to help the Ducks (16-2, 5-0 Pac-12) win their 14th consecutive game their longest such streak in 70 years and 36th in a row at home. Oregon moved up from to No. 11 in this week’s Associated Press men’s basketball poll. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1971 — The fi rst Super Bowl under the NFL-AFL merger ends with Baltimore rookie Jim O’Brien kicking a 32-yard fi eld goal for a 16-13 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. 1988 — The Denver Broncos beat the Cleveland Browns for the second straight year in the AFC championship game. Defensive back Jeremiah Castille strips running back Earnest Byner at the Denver 3-yard line with 65 seconds left in the game to preserve a 38-33 victory. 2004 — New Jersey’s Patrik Elias ties an NHL record by scoring his fourth overtime goal of the season in a 2-1 win over Washington. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com